ED- The Eerie Digest has a strong base with mystery readers everywhere. From students at UCLA and other colleges, as well as filmmakers, fellow writer’s club members, and armchair enthusiasts, the lure of a good detective story is always fascinating. The most well known mystery writer is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote the famous Sherlock Holmes mysteries. The person who brought the fictional character to life was an American actor though, by the name of William Gillette. With us today is Henry Zecher, author of the first full biography of Gillette ever published: William Gillette, America’s Sherlock Holmes, recently published by Xlibris Press.
ED – Henry, please tell our readers about your educational background.
HZ- I spent two years at Montgomery College, a local two-year commuter school, and joined the sports staff of the campus newspaper. Being the only one on the sports staff, that made me sports editor the day I first walked in. Instant promotion. But we had a great newspaper that was rated among the finest in the country. I went on to the University of Maryland and received my B.S. in journalism in 1971. In my years at Maryland, I wrote for the Diamondback, which had the distinction – on the one day when both metropolitan newspapers were on strike – of being the largest circulating daily in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.